Users of physical or virtual machines commonly install software packages, including package updates, to physical or virtual machines. The software packages can contain a set of related files chosen to perform a given application or task, such as, for example, a group of software applications, drivers, and/or other resources used to install and use messaging applications. In instances, a software package can contain application software, operating system software, drivers, patches, and/or other software components grouped as a logical set.
Software package update managers exist to help a user initiate and perform software package updates, such as, for example, the “yum” (Yellowdog update manager) package update manager available from Red Hat Inc., and others. In general, available software package managers are configured to interact with the set of installed packages on a client and with one or more software package repositories, to directly connect to those databases and download available package updates.
The process of initiating software package updates can involve, however, the risk or possibility of software-related faults, instabilities, bugs, or other undesirable errors or conditions. A number of those potential faults or irregular conditions can have a tendency to occur during the window of time in which package updates are made. For instance, a user who repeatedly downloads and installs updates for a variety of unrelated packages may incur the risk of overwriting copies of files with inconsistent or undesired versions of those files. For further instance, a user may choose to initiate a package update process without fully verifying or validating the source of the package update files, and retrieve and install those files without any virus scans, black-list check, or other security measures. Because existing package update managers are not configured to conduct broader or system-wide inspections to scan for conditions that could lead to complications, the package update process can involve unintended conflicts, faults or other problems whose potential could be enhanced during the updating process. It may be desirable to provide systems and methods for generating predictive diagnostics via a package update manager, in which diagnostic logic and user notification can be integrated into the package update process to detect and possibly flag and correct potentially problematic updates and/or other system conditions, before update activity takes place.